Bowl Expo 2024
A Review of Trends Seen at Annual Bowling Fest
Howard McAuliffe
by Howard McAuliffe, Partner, Pinnacle Entertainment Group
The bowling alley many of us grew up with was characterized by snack bars with mediocre-at-best food, reasonably priced drinks in a no-frills bar, bowling leagues dominating the lanes, and often a lot of cigarette smoke. Over the last 10 years we have seen these types of bowling alleys converted or built as bowling entertainment centers. The BEC is characterized by restaurant-quality food and beverage, state-of-the-art arcades and attractions, more casual bowling and a lot of group and event business.
Bowl Expo is always a great place to connect with former clients, friends and learn more about the trends in the bowling business, which are increasingly tied directly to the family entertainment center business. This year, the show was certainly slower than years past, largely due to the event falling the same week as the 4th of July. In addition to the timing, I believe as business has slowed a bit so some usual attendees stayed at home or sent fewer employees than they otherwise might.
Our recent data analysis shows bowling entertainment centers are down an average of 12% in their arcades this year. It’s important to note, however, that those declines are coming off record post-Covid highs in 2023, so the business is still strong. While that is true, significant declines do alter behavior.
The trends we’re seeing coming out of Bowl Expo are a more rigorous analysis before buying new games as part of an overall commitment to tighter operations, a focus on league business and slowing the opening of new locations.
Many proprietors have been able to build a BEC or convert an existing bowling alley and generate significant profits based on the business model alone, even without fully understanding the details of the food and beverage and FEC operations. There are a lot of employees with food and beverage experience that can be hired, and a good game distributor can make sure a location has the right game mix and layout. For years, this was enough to generate great profits, but that is becoming increasingly challenging as more competition opens and the overall economy slows.
Bowling proprietors are wisely putting more focus on the details of operating their businesses. We have seen a large shift in our consulting business to existing proprietors looking to improve their operations, this after years of proprietors hiring us to help them design and open new facilities.
Bowling proprietors were also not buying as much on the show floor as they did during last year’s Bowl Expo. New games are very expensive, and we are seeing far more owners wait for test data, reduce purchasing budgets and only buy games that can improve their overall sales.
As we help tighten operations, we see opportunity for improvement by ensuring redemption mark-ups are the same across vendors, that ticket payouts for ticket ring games and pushers that require some manual calculations are tracked regularly, that crane payouts are tracked, and that a process to identify theft and fraud from employees is implemented. Understanding and managing these and other details in the arcade lead to direct improvement in bottom line profits without having to spend large amounts of money.
While BEC operators have loved the increase in attendance of casual bowlers who typically spend more than league bowlers, many are reengaging with their leagues. League bowlers love bowling, and when the economy slows, bowling will still be part of their lives. It is a relatively low-cost activity, and something they truly love. This focus on core customers is something we can all learn from.
There are diehard arcade enthusiasts, like laser tag players, and if your bar and restaurant is good, you have regulars. These are the people who save their tickets and redeem for your highest value prizes, come with their faces painted to play laser tag, and have a regular spot at the bar or booth where they always sit. It is important to know who they are, engage with them and take care of them, because they love your facility and will prioritize coming when budgets get tight.
All this said, it’s important to remember that business is still very good. While we are seeing fewer new projects than in years past because of high construction costs, higher interest rates and increases in labor costs, there is still a lot of strength in the industry.
It’s wise in the current environment to slow growth and focus on strengthening our existing businesses. In the long run, these trends of being more discerning with capital, slowing new project growth and focusing on strengthening existing business all leads to a stronger industry in the long run.
Howard McAuliffe loves to imagine and implement new products, business models, and ideas, and is a partner in Pinnacle Entertainment Group Inc. He’s an industry veteran who got his start in the business when he was just 16 and has 20 years of expertise in product development, as well as FEC and route operations. Howard’s wife Reem and young son Sami are the center of life outside of work. When he’s not working, Howard can be found enjoying the outdoors, hiking, fishing and mountaineering. Traveling anywhere new or to old favorites like the American West is a passion. Readers can visit www.grouppinnacle.com for more information or contact Howard at [email protected], he welcomes positive as well as constructive feedback and counterpoints.
